Last month I talked about the effect technology, specifically the printing press, has had on our view of Scripture. I suggested that the appearance of Scripture in print and the explosion of inexpensive copies made the Bible even more significant in the eyes of Christians than it was before—its authority as the Word of God increased among Christians bringing about the Protestant Reformation as well as the proliferation of schisms in the church. I also suggested that the way we read the Bible changed: it became more personal, but it also led to a kind of arrogance—a belief that we can know truth apart from a relationship with God. I concluded that technology has affected the way we view Scripture, both positively and negatively. Now I ask, how does putting the Bible on a computer affect the way we see and use it today?

The positives of computer Bibles include:

Easier access. People living in a technological age will be more attracted to a Bible on a computer screen where search engines can help them find answers to their questions. Want to know what the Bible has to say about “war,” “family,” the “death penalty”? Type in a word search and every Scripture pertaining to the issue appears on the screen.

Speed. A media rushed culture is attracted to anything quick. Young people especially have little patience for reading, but they may be drawn to a Bible format that can help them comprehend God’s truth more quickly.

Effectiveness. Good teachers and preachers spend hours poring over Scripture and books about Scripture. Bible study programs on computer allow them to work just as hard but accomplish far more.

Bible programs give us easy access to multiple translations of the Bible. They can show us original languages for careful scholarly study. They can show us half a dozen or more English translations at once so we can see how others understand a passage or find just the right way to communicate to others what the text is saying.

Mission groups are already making use of the Internet to get electronic Bibles into places they couldn’t get them before.

Electronic Bibles will mean lower prices for people who can’t even afford inexpensive hard copies or for people who want multiple translations of the Bible but can’t afford to buy them.

But there are dangers.

Is the Bible a tool for learning facts about God and how Christians should live, or is it a record of communication by which we can encounter something of the nature of God himself? By pulling passages out of the Bible we strip them from their context, from their ability to inform our hearts, and from an understanding that there is a mystery to Scripture.

Did God intend the Bible for speed, or for contemplation? In Acts 17:11 the Bereans were commended for searching the Scriptures. In computer Bibles, a “search engine” does it for us. (I say that, but then I just looked up Acts 17:11 in my computer Bible program to check the wording.)

Easy access to commentaries on the Bible allows us to study the Bible corporately in one sense, but in another sense it removes the need for people—the community we read in is only a virtual community, not a living one, responsive (during a group Bible study, for example) to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Just as the printing press “hardened” the words of Scripture by printing them on a page (instead of having them handwritten), so too does a computer screen “soften” the words—they become malleable, alterable. We can pick and choose the translation we like in a given situation, how the words will appear on the screen, and which portion of a verse is convenient for our purposes and which to leave out. Scriptural authority becomes less about what’s in the text and more about how we choose to manipulate it to our own ends; we take authority from Scripture and put it into our hands.

Should Christians contribute to a culture that is already media obsessed?

As with all technology, the computerization of the Bible presents unique advantages and problems. I don’t think it’s our job to reject the concept altogether. It’s our job to accept the challenge of working through the problems and making use of the advantages for our own spiritual growth and for the advancement of the kingdom. Personally, I intend to make use of my PC Study Bible program and read daily from the leather bound NAS Bible that has traveled in a book bag with me for the last 26 years. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells